Holographic recording system having a relay system

ABSTRACT

According to one aspect and example, a holographic recording system includes a light source, an object for modulating an object beam from the light source, and a relay system adapted to magnify (positive or negative) the modulated beam (e.g., an image of the object) to an output image. The object may include an SLM operable to modulate the object beam with an information layer comprising a plurality of data pages. The output image is directed to the holographic storage medium, where a reference beam is also directed, to record the resulting interference pattern. Additionally, the relay system converges the output image to an output Fourier plane, which may be disposed within the holographic storage medium. A filter may be placed at an intermediate Fourier plane located prior to the output Fourier plane, and a phase mask may be placed at the position of the output image.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a Continuation-in-part of earlier filed U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/658,055, entitled, “METHODS FORIMPLEMENTING PAGE BASED HOLOGRAPHIC ROM RECORDING AND READING,” filedSep. 8, 2003, which claimed benefit of earlier filed provisionalapplication U.S. Ser. No. 60/429,012, entitled “A METHOD FORIMPLEMENTING A PAGE BASED HOLOGRAPHIC ROM,” filed on Nov. 22, 2002, bothof which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The invention relates generally to holographic data storage media andsystems, and more particularly to methods and systems for recordingand/or reading holographic storage media.

2. Description of Related Art

Holographic data storage systems store information or data based on theconcept of a signal beam interfering with a reference beam at aholographic storage medium. The interference of the signal beam and thereference beam creates a holographic representation, i.e., a hologram,of data elements as a pattern of varying refractive index and/orabsorption imprinted in a volume of a storage or recording medium suchas a photopolymer or photorefractive crystal. Combining a data-encodedsignal beam, referred to as an object beam, with a reference beam cancreate the interference pattern at the storage medium. A spatial lightmodulator (SLM) or lithographic data mask, for example, may create thedata-encoded signal beam. The interference pattern induces materialalterations in the storage medium that generate the hologram.

The formation of the hologram in the storage medium is generally afunction of the relative amplitudes and polarization states of, andphase differences between, the signal beam and the reference beam. Thehologram is also dependent on the wavelengths and angles at which thesignal beam and the reference beam are projected into the storagemedium. After a hologram is created in the storage medium, projectingthe reference beam into the storage medium interacts and reconstructsthe original data-encoded signal beam. The reconstructed signal beam maybe detected by using a detector, such as a CMOS photo-detector array orthe like. The recovered data may then be decoded by the photo-detectorarray into the original encoded data.

A basic holographic system is illustrated in FIG. 1. The holographicstorage system includes a light source 110, for example, a laser forproviding a coherent beam of light. A beam splitter 114 is positioned tosplit the laser beam into an object beam and a reference beam. Theobject beam is directed to an SLM or data mask 116 where it is encodedwith information as a two-dimensional image and directed to therecording storage medium 124 by mirror 118 and lens 120 where itinterferes with the reference beam directed via mirror 130. A complexinterference pattern is recorded in the storage medium 124 where theobject beam and reference beam interact. After a first image or layer isrecorded, the system may be modified to enable additional images to berecorded in storage medium 124. For example, by modifying the angleand/or wavelength of the reference beam, successive images may berecorded in the storage medium 124.

A particular image may be retrieved from recording medium 124 with areference beam similar to the original reference beam used to store theimage. The light is diffracted by storage medium 124 according to thestored hologram and the two-dimensional image that was stored inrecording medium 124 is directed by lens 126 to photo-detector array128.

Holographic Read Only Memory (Holographic ROM or HROM) storage media arewell known. In the past, holographic information has been recorded indisc format HROM in an incremental manner by successively aligningdifferent locations on the HROM with an object beam and a reference beamto record successive data bits. Different information can be recorded ateach successive location by changing the information imparted through aspatial light modulator (SLM) or successive data masks, for example.U.S. Pat. No. 6,272,095, entitled, “Apparatus and Method for Storingand/or Reading Data on an Optical Disk,” by Liu et al. describes severalexamples of illustrative prior recording techniques, and is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. Moreover, multiple holograms can bestacked in virtual image layers through wavelength multiplex, anglemultiplex, shift multiplex, confocal multiplex, or other multiplextechniques, for example. Each hologram in a stack may comprise a page ofinformation, where a “page” is a collection of bits or of pixel datastored together, e.g., as a 2048×2048 array or a 10×10 array. U.S. Pat.No. 6,322,933, entitled, “Volume Track Definition for Data Storage MediaUsed to Record Data by Selective Alteration of a Format Hologram,” byDaiber et al. describes several examples of illustrative prior volumerecording techniques, and is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety. Additionally, another reference that describes recordingtechniques and the bitwise retrieval of an HROM includes “HolographicROM System for High Speed Replication,” presented by Ernest Chuang etal. of Sony Corporation at the Optical Data Storage Conference, Jul. 8,2002, in Hawaii, USA.

One shortcoming of such methods for the recording of holograms is thatsignificant time can be required to incrementally record information ona location-by-location or bit-by-bit basis. Therefore, improvedrecording processes have been proposed in which an entire holographicimage or “layer” of information is recorded simultaneously across anentire storage medium. An exemplary method includes shining a planewavebeam through a transmissive optical medium, e.g., a transmissivelithographic data mask, encoded with information so as to create aplanewave object/signal beam. The encoded planewave object beamilluminates one surface of the storage medium. A conical planewavereference beam, for example, may illuminate an opposite surface of theholographic storage medium. The object beam and the reference beaminterfere within the holographic storage medium to create an informationlayer within the storage medium.

Readout of the data stored on the media may be subsequently achievedusing the same reference beam used to record the data or by using aconjugate readout beam (i.e., similar to the original reference beampropagated in the opposite direction) to reconstruct abackwards-propagating signal beam that retraces the path of the originalrecording. The stored information is readout in a bitwise fashion, e.g.,a bit at a time or a few bits at a time in a serial fashion as describedin the Sony Corporation approach referenced above. A pickup lens of asystem may focus a real image of the data, created using the readoutbeam, onto a suitable detector as the holographic medium and/or thedrive translate and/or rotate with respect to each other.

One shortcoming of the recording methods described above is thatinformation typically is readout a bit at a time or a few bits at a timein a serial fashion. Thus, there is a need for recording holographicstorage media that more readily permits relatively higher, parallelreadout rates. Specifically, there is a need for parallel readout of atleast a page of information at a time, e.g., many bits in parallel. Inaddition, the bit-by-bit readout architecture generally limits theimplementation to spinning disks in order to get reasonable transferrates. There is a need for page-wise readout that may allow for new morecompact, portable formats such as storage cards to be practical. Anothershortcoming of the prior proposed recording methods includes thealignment and time necessary to align and record multiple data masks inholographic storage media, e.g., HROM media.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In one aspect of the present invention, methods and systems forrecording holographic storage media are provided. In one example of thisaspect, a method includes illuminating an object (e.g., a data mask orSLM) with an object beam (often referred to as a “signal” beam) andrecording the resulting modulated object beam in a holographic storagemedium. In one example, the data mask includes an information layer thatis divided into multiple data pages. A reference beam is furtherpropagated to the holographic storage medium to record the multiple datapages of the information layer in a parallel fashion with theholographic storage medium.

In another aspect, a method and system for recording holographic mediawhere an object image is magnified is provided. In one example, a systemincludes a light source, an object for modulating an object beam fromthe light source, and a relay system adapted to magnify or demagnify themodulated beam (e.g., an image of the object) to an output image. Theoutput image is directed to the holographic storage medium, where areference beam is also directed, to record the resulting interferencepattern. Additionally, the relay system converges the output image to anoutput Fourier plane, which may be disposed within the holographicstorage medium. In one example, a filter may be placed at anintermediate Fourier plane located prior to the output Fourier plane.Further, a phase mask may be placed at the position of the output imagein one example. The object may include an SLM operable to modulate theobject beam with an information layer comprising a plurality of datapages. In other examples, the relay system may be used withoutmagnifying the object beam, and may provide the benefits of anintermediate Fourier plane or phase mask disposed at the output image.

In another aspect described herein, methods and system for recordingholographic media and/or holographic master data masks are provided. Inone example of this aspect, a method includes storing at least oneinformation layer in a holographic master data mask, illuminating theholographic master data mask to reconstruct the stored information layerand direct an image of the information layer to a holographic storagemedium, and propagating a reference beam to the holographic storagemedium to record the information layer therein.

In another example, a method for recording holographic media and/orholographic master data masks includes recording at least a firsthologram (e.g., an information layer) with a first holographic medium(e.g., a “submaster”) and recording at least a second hologram with asecond holographic medium (e.g., a second “submaster”). The firsthologram and the second hologram from the first and second holographicmedia are then sequentially reconstructed and stored with a singleholographic master medium (e.g., a “master”). The holographic mastermedium may then be used to record the stored first and second hologramsinto additional holographic media, for example, into HROM devices or thelike. The exemplary method of using holographic submasters to create aholographic master data mask may provide benefits in terms ofdiffraction efficiencies of stored information layers and increasedstorage capacity of the final holographic storage device.

In another aspect of the present invention, various methods for readingholographic media are provided. In one example, a method for readingholographic storage media includes providing a reference beam anddetecting stored information in a holographic storage medium with adetector placed at a distance from the holographic storage medium. Inone example, the holographic storage medium includes at least oneinformation layer divided into a plurality of data pages stored thereinand adapted to be detected at the distance of the detector (e.g., lensesor other optical elements may not be needed for readout).

The present invention is better understood upon consideration of thedetailed description below in conjunction with the accompanying drawingsand claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary holographic recording and readingsystem;

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary data mask including multiple datapages;

FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary stack of information layers havingmultiple data pages in each layer;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary holographic data recording system forcreating holographic master data masks or holographic media;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary system for detecting holographic datadirectly with a detector;

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate an exemplary system for recording a masterholographic data mask;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary system for imaging a master holographicdata mask to holographic storage media;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary system for reading holographic storagemedia including a holographic optical element;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary system and method for reading imagesfrom holographic storage media;

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate exemplary systems and methods for recordingand reading holographic storage media;

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary system and method for recordingholographic storage media including a relay system to provide amagnified output image of an object;

FIGS. 11A-11C illustrate exemplary lens configurations for imaging anobject;

FIGS. 12A-12C illustrate exemplary relay systems for imaging andmagnifying an object;

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary simulation of a relay system producinga magnified output image;

FIGS. 14A and 14B illustrate exemplary methods for forming holographicstorage media from a holographic master data mask according toreflection and transmission geometry;

FIGS. 15A and 15B illustrate an exemplary method for recording hologramsto a plurality of holographic submaster media and copying the hologramsinto a single holographic master medium;

FIGS. 16A-16C illustrate exemplary positioning of data masks andholographic media for manufacturing holographic media from a masterholographic data mask and a plurality of submaster media;

FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary method for recording and manufacturingholographic media; and

FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplary method for recording and manufacturingholographic media.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods and systems are provided for holographic storage media recordingand reading including, for example, holographic read only media or HROMmedia. The following description is presented to enable any person ofordinary skill in the art to make and use the various examples.Descriptions of specific techniques and applications are provided onlyas examples. Various modifications to the examples described herein willbe readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, and thegeneral principles defined herein may be applied to other examples andapplications without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited tothe examples described and shown, but is to be accorded the widest scopeconsistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

In one aspect of the present invention, data masks are used to recordvirtual layers or holographic images having a plurality of data pagescentered at different locations on a holographic storage medium suchthat readout may be achieved in a page-wise fashion. In one example,parallel recording of multiple data pages in each layer allows for thefast replication of HROM media with increased storage capacity, andpage-wise readout of HROM media allows for faster read rates thanbitwise readout. The increased storage capacity is due in part toincreased diffraction efficiency by recording multiple data pages in thestorage media in parallel. The data transfer rates are increased in partbecause of parallel detection of an entire data page without moving themedia as in serial storage devices such as CDs, magnetic disks, and thelike. The examples are particularly suited for making high performancecard storage devices; however, the examples are applicable to variousstorage device media and configurations such as discs and tape media aswill be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art.

In another aspect of the present invention, one or more data masks arestored in a holographic medium to create a holographic master data mask(sometimes referred to herein as a “master” or “master holographicmedium”) for use in recording holographic storage media. In one example,a holographic master data mask is fabricated with multiple informationlayers or data layers and used to record or copy one or more of thestored data layers to a holographic storage media such as HROM media.The holographic master data mask may be multiplexed to retrieve thevarious data masks with improved alignment and speed between recordingdifferent layers without the need to move and align a plurality of datamasks. Additionally, the holographic master data mask may be placed ator near a quasi Fourier transform plane of the stored data masks using aVanderLugt setup or other transforming optical system. Holographicmaster data masks may be recorded at or near Fourier planes or imageplanes of the optical system. The Fourier transform location in thesesystems may filter out high order transform components during recordingthe holographic master data mask, and reduce interference between storeddata pages when recording an HROM or the like, thereby improving readoutperformance.

In another aspect of the invention, holographic recording methods andsystems for forming holographic master media using a plurality ofsubmaster holographic media are provided. In one example, a methodincludes recording a set of desired holograms sequentially into aplurality of separate holographic media, e.g., a plurality of“submasters.” Thereafter, the holograms recorded in the submasters arecopied to a second holographic storage medium, a “master.” The masterholographic medium may be used as a master data mask or the like toreplicate further holographic storage media. The exemplary method mayprovide increased storage capacity and hologram diffraction efficienciesin a holographic medium over conventional methods and systems.

In another aspect of the invention, a holographic recording method andsystem include an optical relay system disposed in the object beam pathto magnify or demagnify an input object image to an output object image.The magnification of the relay system may be adjusted to magnify theobject image size to a desired output image size to be stored and laterreconstructed from a suitable holographic medium. For example, theobject image may be magnified to a desired pixel size and pitch varyingfrom that of the object.

Additionally, exemplary methods and systems including a relay systemlend themselves to further advantages (including examples that relay theobject image without magnification). For example, a phase mask may beplaced at the output image plane. Further, in one example, the lightpath for the output image of the relay system converges to an outputFourier plane and an intermediate Fourier plane may be included prior tothe output Fourier plane. A filter (e.g., including an aperture forpolytopic multiplexing) may be placed at the intermediate Fourier plane,thereby allowing the output Fourier plane to be placed inside thestorage medium.

In another aspect of the invention, where one or more data mask arestored in a holographic medium or a holographic master data mask, thedata pages are multiplexed in stacks using multiplexing techniques suchas wavelength or angle multiplexing. Additionally, the data pages may bestored spatially overlapping using polytopic multiplexing. Polytopicmultiplexing is described, e.g., in U.S. Patent Application 60/453,529,filed on Mar. 10, 2003, and entitled, “A METHOD FOR OVERLAPPINGHOLOGRAMS USING LOCATION BASED FILTERING TO SEPARATE OUT THE SIGNAL,”which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.

The following description includes various examples and aspects of thepresent invention. As will be recognized by those of ordinary skill inthe art various examples may be used alone or in combination withvarious other methods and systems depending on the particularapplication.

Volume holography can be used to multiplex multiple layers in the sameholographic storage medium. For instance, a first transmissive maskmedium or data mask may be encoded with a first information layer, and asecond transmissive mask medium may be encoded with a second informationlayer. Information from the first and second transmissive mask media canbe multiplexed onto the holographic storage medium through angle orwavelength multiplex techniques, for example. In this manner, multipletransmissive mask media, each encoded with different information, can beused to produce multiple information layers. That is, stacks ofholograms can be created in which information stored at different layersin a given-stack are created by different or successive transmissivemask media. The use of the term “layer,” in a stack is a logicalexplanation or term as the physical reality of volume holographicrecording is that all holograms in a stack exist in the same or nearlythe same volume and not in physically separate layers in the media.

In one exemplary recording method, multiple data pages included in asingle hologram image or information layer are recorded in parallel inat least a portion of a holographic storage medium. Further, multiplelayers may be recorded to the holographic storage medium to createmultiple stacks of data pages (often referred to as “books” of datapages).

FIG. 2A illustrates an exemplary data mask 200 including a plurality ofdata pages 210. Each data page 210 may include an array of pixelsnumbering in the hundreds of pixels or more. For example, each data page210 may include a 2048 by 2048 array of pixels, but various sizes andshapes of each data page 210 are possible. Each data page may beseparated within data mask 200 and storage media by a distance equal toa few microns or larger. Alternatively, if polytopic multiplexing isused, for example, the data pages may overlap within the storage mediaas described in greater detail below.

FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary representation of hologram images orvirtual information layers 202 having multiple data pages 212 ofinformation that may be stored in a holographic storage medium by datamask 200. Each layer 202 may be stored onto a portion or all of aholographic medium at the same time such that multiple data page 212 ofa common layer are recorded in parallel. Further, multiple layers 202may be aligned with data pages 212 forming a stack 214 of data pages212, where one stack 214 is indicated generally by the arrow. Duringreadout, a detector may be aligned with a stack 214 of one or more datapages 212 in a storage medium and each data page 212 detected or readoutsuccessively in a page-wise fashion. For example, each layer 202 anddata page 212 of a stack 214 may be multiplexed into the media by angle,wavelength, or other suitable methods and readout accordingly. When anentire stack 214 has been read, the detector and/or media may betranslated and/or rotated to align the detector with another stack 214and page-wise readout continued. In another example described below,referred to as polytopic multiplexing, data pages 210 may spatiallyoverlap when stored.

Storing an information layer 202 including multiple data pages 212,across a holographic storage medium may more effectively utilize thedynamic range of holographic media, thereby increasing the storagecapacity of the media. Generally, the storage capacity and diffractionefficiency decrease as the number of holograms, in this instance,information layers 202, are stored in similar locations of the volumemedium. For example, diffraction efficiency is proportional to 1/m²,where m is the number of holograms stored therein. When multiple datapages are recorded in a medium in parallel as part of a single image,however, the diffraction efficiency reduction occurs only once for eachlayer 202 of multiple data pages 212, i.e., m=1, rather than a reductionfor each data page 212 recorded within the holographic storage medium.Typically, recording all data pages 212 in layer 202 in parallel resultsin or allows for higher storage density due to improved uniformity ofexposure of the medium and better use of the medium volume. In contrast,if each data page 212 is recorded by itself in a serial fashion, theprocess will use more dynamic range of the medium than when each datapage 212 is recorded at the same time, i.e., in parallel. The differencein dynamic range is due, at least in part, to overlap of the signal beamand reference beam exposing more medium with propagation through themedium. This results in more effective exposures to record the sameinformation during serial recording and uses a greater dynamic range ofthe medium than parallel recording. In addition, localized serialrecording of data pages 212 may create localized bulk index changes thatcan lower the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the system compared toparallel recording an entire layer 202.

Additionally, faster readout times may be achieved with the exemplarymethods. During readout of a holographic storage medium with multipledata pages 212 in each layer 202, a system may align a detector with adata page 212 or a stack 214 of data pages 212 and readout the datapages 212 in a page-wise fashion, e.g., where the array of informationstored in each data page 212 is readout in parallel. In one example, adetector is aligned with a stack 214 and the entire stack 214 of datapages 214 is readout page-wise (through multiplexing, etc.). Thedetector may then move to another stack 214 of the storage medium toreadout data pages 212. Reading in a page-wise fashion may substantiallyincrease the readout rate compared to methods and systems where readoutis performed in a serial or bitwise fashion.

Further, detecting an entire data page 212 in parallel allows forpage-wise error correction methods. For example, detecting an image of adata page 212 allows for various error correction and channel modulationtechniques to recover detected signals and decode them into the storageinformation with greater accuracy. For example, U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/305,769 entitled “MICRO-POSITIONING MOVEMENT OF HOLOGRAPHICDATA STORAGE SYSTEM COMPONENTS,” describes several error correctionmethods and techniques and is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

FIG. 3 illustrates a portion of an exemplary system for recording datamask 200 including multiple data pages onto holographic storage medium220 where the multiple data pages are advantageously recorded inparallel. The exemplary systems shown and described herein may includevarious additional or different optical elements such as lenses, prisms,apertures, filters, beam splitters, gratings, and the like as will berecognized by those of ordinary skill in the art. For clarity, however,such additional features have been omitted from the description.

In this example, data mask 200 is illuminated by an object beam 242provided by light source 236 and interacts with a reference beam 240provided by light source 236. Light source 236 may include any suitablelight source such as a laser or other coherent light source. Further,object beam 242 and reference beam 240 may be provided by the same ordifferent light sources. The exemplary recording method is shown in areflection geometry holography process configuration (object andreference beam entering the media from opposite sides), where the planewave reference beam interferes with the data encoded object beam insidethe holographic storage medium 220. The system illustrated may beconfigured in various manners and include various other features notexplicitly described herein as will be recognized by those of ordinaryskill in the art. For example, it should be readily recognized thattransmission geometry holography processes may also be used to store theinformation of data mask 200, where the plane reference wave beam isprovided from the same side of the medium 220 as the data mask 200.Additionally, the optical system in the object beam path may include asingle lens 230 as shown, no lenses, or a plurality of lenses.

In this example, data mask 200 is illuminated by object wave 242 fromlight source 236 and is propagated in a transmissive system to imageplane 222 that is a distance “d” from the holographic storage medium 220center. The distance d can be positive, zero, or negative, i.e., on theother side of storage medium 220 shown in dotted lines. Image plane 222may also be located within storage medium 220. One potential advantageof holographically implementing multiple layers (image planes) is thatthe layers do not have to physically be on the storage medium. Forexample, with current multilevel CD, near-field, or high na systems, thelayers are on or inside the media. By imaging or placing the data mask200 of the data, the layers can appear to a detector or drive as beinglocated outside of the storage medium 220, inside storage medium 220, oron storage medium 220 depending on where the data mask 200 image plane222 lies during recording. Thus, the usual problem of compensating forspherical aberration due to the change in the amount of substrate thatthe light travels through may not be necessary and in some instances maybe detected without a pickup lens or lenses. In addition, by placing theimage plane 222 of the data outside of the storage medium 220, variousmedia defects or contamination issues such as dust, scratches, and thelike may be mitigated.

Further, when imaging, a lens system 230 can change the magnification ofthe mask to enlarge or shrink. In one example, lens 230 demagnifies theimage by ten. Lens system 230 may include one or more optical elementsincluding lenses, lens arrays, prisms, beam splitters, and the like.Further, data masks may be recorded without lenses by placing the datamasks 200 near to the media, for example, at a distance d from medium220 and recording at this location.

Data mask 200 may be propagated to a holographic storage medium in anysuitable manner. In the case of multiple data masks 200, successive datamasks 200 and 201 may be stored in the holographic storage mediautilizing a procedure in which each data mask 200, 201, and so on, iseffectively multiplexed for readout purposes. In one example forrecording multiple pages of data mask 200 in parallel, data mask 200 isFourier transformed onto the medium 220 with a lens array including alens element for each data page 210.

Methods for recording multiple data pages of data mask 200 in parallelmay further include a VanderLugt imaging system. For example, aVanderLugt imaging system generally includes or is characterized byhaving lens 230 before the data mask 200 such that the data mask 200 isilluminated by a converging beam. FIG. 5A, described below, includes anexemplary VanderLugt imaging configuration. The VanderLugt system ispreferred in that it allows the storage medium 220 to be in or near theFourier transform plane, and when used, e.g., with phase conjugatereadout the image plane is generated without the need of a lens. Storagemedium 220 may also be placed near the Fourier transform plane to enablean aperture to filter out high order transform components duringrecording. Further, the Fourier transform plane may be contained withinthe media, or near the media depending on the particular application. Ifthe Fourier transform plane is within the media, the Fourier planefiltering may be done at another Fourier plane in the relay system. Inaddition, phase masks or other elements to lower the DC spot energyrelative to the rest of the orders intensity may be included to allowfor better recording of the information.

In one exemplary method of wavelength multiplexing, the wavelength ofthe beams 240, 242 may be changed and a new data mask 201 with datapages that have different information stored. Additionally, data mask201 may include a holographic data mask having one or more layers may beused (as will be described below). In one example, a tunable laserdevice may be included, for example, where the wavelength may be variedby tuning the temperature of a diode as described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 10/346,399, entitled, “System and Method forBitwise Readout Holographic ROM,” which is hereby incorporated byreference as if fully set forth herein. Additionally, a series ofdiscrete laser sources with varying wavelengths may be used. Othermethods for implementing various wavelengths in a system includetechniques developed for telecom applications. For example, theseinclude electroabsorptive modulation and the use of amicro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMs) structure on a laser cavity tochange the wavelength. Central wavelengths of interest can be anywherebetween 350-950 nm, and practical tuning ranges of interest can be assmall as 1 nm. A preferred range of tenability is between approximately5 nm and 15 nm. The readout laser may include a continuous wave orpulsed beam. A pulsed beam is generally more efficient in using energy.Angle multiplexing may also be achieved by varying the angle ofincidence of the reference beam. Additionally, phase code, polytopic,shift, correlation, or other known multiplexing methods may also be usedalone or in combination.

In another example, confocal multiplexing may be implemented by varyingthe image plane 222 distance d between recording successive data masks200 and 201. Distance d may be varied through a repositioning devicecontroller 232 that translates lens 230 in a direction perpendicular todata mask 200, along the optical axis of lens 230 to vary the locationof d between successive layers. The repositioning device may include anysuitable device capable of translating lens 230 (or multiple lenses) andcontrolled by a suitable microprocessor. This could also be implementedby moving the mask between successive layers. On readout, the detectormay be similarly varied by a repositioning device to image and detectthe stored images. For example, changing the wavelength for wavelengthmultiplexing or changing the location of the detector for confocalmultiplexing. Additionally, for confocal multiplexing it is generallydesirable to have a filter such as an array of pinholes at the imageplane, i.e., on the detector array or at an intermediate image plane, tofilter out noise from the other confocally stored holograms. These, andother multiplexing techniques well known in the art, can be implementedalone or in any combination to achieve high-density storage and capacitywithin storage medium 220.

An advantage of confocal multiplexing includes that the data mask 200may be moved over a distance, e.g., 100 microns or more, withoutsignificant loss of image quality and without magnification change,provided that the optical system is close to telecentric. By filteringout other data pages on a per pixel basis with a pinhole filter similarto confocal microscope, the multiple pages in the stack can be recordedat different depths. This can significantly increase the density thatmay be stored in the holographic medium 220. Confocal multiplexing mayalso be combined with Bragg based, e.g., angle, wavelength, shift,and/or momentum based multiplexing techniques, e.g., fractal, aperture,peristrophic, to increase storage density.

Data mask 200 may include a phase mask, amplitude mask, or anycombination of amplitude and phase mask, where phase and/or amplituderepresents data. For example, binary information can be stored as (1, 0)or (1, −1, 0), and detected as 1, 0 on any suitable detector such as aCCD image sensor, CMOS image sensor, or other suitable sensor such as anarea array sensor. Data mask 200 may contain information similar to thatfound on conventional DVD disks, including light and dark spotscorresponding to 1s and 0s, data tracks, and servo patterns in the data.

Data mask 200 may be fabricated through any suitable lithographic methodas known in the art. Alternatively, an SLM or holographic storage mediummay be used to encode an object beam. In one example, one or more datamasks 200 having a layer with multiple pages may be holographicallystored in a holographic medium as a holographic master data mask andused to store data into the holographic storage medium, e.g., an HROM.The holographically store layer may be imaged to the HROM, and in thecase of multiple pages, multiplexed to the HROM to store each hologramhaving multiple pages as will be described in greater detail below.

In one example, the holographic storage media 220 may include a cardmedium such as a high performance card storage device or the like.Alternatively, the storage medium 220 may include disc media similar toor different from conventional CD or DVD media, tape, or any otherconvenient format in which optical media may be fabricated. Generally,the holographic storage medium 220 includes a photopolymer on or betweenprotective substrates. The protective substrates are advantageouslyselected from glass, sapphire, polycarbonate, poly(methyl methacrylate)or PMMA, plastic, quartz, or other suitable material that is generallytransparent to the wavelength of light being used, and which hasadequate mechanical properties in the holographic storage system.Alternatively, the storage medium may be enclosed at least partiallywithin a cartridge or other protective structure.

The photopolymer layer may include a photopolymer material that iscapable of recording the desired interference pattern. One exemplaryholographic medium includes Tapestry™ media manufactured by InPhaseTechnologies, but any volumetric media capable of recording hologramsmay be used. Other examples of photopolymers and storage media includethose described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,482,551, which is hereby incorporatedherein in its entirety by reference. It is also desirable that theoptical quality of the media be fairly high, e.g., <4 wavelength ofpower per cm², to achieve good image reconstruction and good Braggselectivity. U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,045 describes an exemplary method forfabricating exemplary media and is incorporated herein in its entiretyby reference.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary system for reading holographic storagemedia, for example, storage medium 220 recorded using the system of FIG.3. Readout of data stored in storage medium 220 may be achieved in manydifferent ways. For example, a phase conjugate reference beam can beused with a reference wave the size of a single page or stack ofholograms (for a plane wave reference beam this may include a plane wavein the opposite direction). A reference beam 260 may be introduced anddeflected to the media by a beamsplitter 270. Beamsplitter 270 mayinclude a standard beamsplitter, a polarizing beamsplitter, or aholographic optical element that redirects the reference beam 260 tostorage medium 220. The use of an aperture or angle filter (to just passthe zeroth order or some fraction of the zeroth order) betweenbeamsplitter 270 and storage medium 220 may be used to get anappropriate sized beam and filter out the other data pages. Such afilter or aperture could also be part of the media structure itself.

In one example, where the image was stored outside the storage medium220 at distance d, a suitable detector 250 can be placed at the imageplane distance and the data page detected without the need for anoptical lens or other optical elements. Repositioning device controller252 may be used to vary the distance between detector 250 and storagemedium 220 through a suitable repositioning device to read differentdata pages stored at different distances d in the stack by translatingdetector 250. Alternatively or additionally, repositioning devicecontroller may also translate the position of storage medium 220 througha suitable repositioning device.

Further, detector 250 and storage medium 220 are capable of movingparallel to each other to align detector 250 with other data pages andstacks of storage medium 220. For example, the other stacks of hologramsmay be accessed by moving detector 250 and the reference beamillumination to the stack that is desired. Conversely, the media couldbe moved to the stack location or a combination of head and mediamovement as in Compact Disk (CD) or Digital Versatile/Video Disk (DVD)systems.

The cost and/or compactness of the exemplary system, for example, a readdrive without a pick-up lens or the like, may be greatly improved inthis manner. It should be understood that the exemplary system depictedmay include various other devices and elements including optics such asa lens or the like. For example, various lenses, apertures, filters,gratings, and the like may be used to image data pages to the detectoras are known in the art.

In one example, detector 250 includes the same number of pixels as asingle data page stored in storage medium 220. Detector 250 may includean appropriate pixel size depending in part on the data mask pixel sizeused to store the data page and the optical system magnification, ifany. In other examples, the detector 250 may include more pixels of asmaller size than the stored image allowing detector 250 to over samplethe stored image. Detector 250 may include any suitable detector such asa CMOS image sensor, a CCD image sensor, or the like that are sensitiveto optical information. Further, a decoding unit coupled to detector 250may determine the corresponding values of the recovered data.

In various examples, a detector may also include a line detector CCD orCMOS line sensor. A line detector can be scanned (physically movedacross the image) to readout an entire data page, which could be thesize of the storage medium or any faction of the storage medium. Thedata pages could be multiplexed and readout in a page wise fashion anddetected with a line camera. The data pages can also be detected in asimilar fashion with a CMOS or CCD camera or other such camera thatcontains an array of pixels to detect the reconstructed data page.

The holograms in a stack, i.e., data pages multiplexed at the samelocation of storage medium 220, can all be readout by changing thereference beam in the manner used to store them. For example, changingthe wavelength for wavelength multiplexing or changing the location ofthe detector for confocal multiplexing. Additionally, for confocalmultiplexing it is desirable to have a filter such as an array ofpinholes at the image plane, i.e. on the detector array or at anintermediate image plane, to filter out noise from the other confocallystored holograms. In an example where a lens or other optical elementsare used during readout, the filter may be at an intermediate imageplane location before the detector.

In another example for reading holographic storage media, e.g., HROMmedia, various data pages may be readout without using the phaseconjugate readout. This can be done with and without lenses in the driveas well. For example, with reference again to FIG. 3, if a hologram orlayer is stored at a distance −d (image on the opposite side of storagemedium 220 shown in dotted lines) then the same reference beam shown inFIG. 3 may be used to readout the layers of data. The holograms willappear as images a distance −d from the media (other side of media).Thus the detector can be place at location −d. Various optical elementsincluding pick-up lenses may also be used to image or transform asdesired and is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art.

Various examples herein may include multiplexing multiple pages to getto high storage density in a holographic storage media or holographicmaster data mask. For example, wavelength, angle, confocal (storing atdifferent distances from center of media), peristrophic, polytopic, andthe like. Further, one or more of the multiplexing technique may becombined to increase storage density, e.g., (wavelength, confocal),(angle, confocal), (wavelength, polytopic) or all three. Additionally,data page(s) and layer(s) may be combined with visible image(s) forsecurity purposes and the like.

Other exemplary holographic data storage systems that may be used inconjunction with various aspects of the present invention include thosedescribed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,920,536 entitled, “Method and Apparatusfor Holographic Data Storage System,” 5,719,691, entitled, “PhaseCorrelation Multiplex Holography,” and 6,191,875 entitled, “Process forHolography Using Reference Beam Having Correlated Phase Content,” all ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

In another aspect of the present invention, one or more data masks arerecorded in a holographic master data mask. The holographic master datamask may then be used to record multiple holographic layers in aholographic storage media, such as HROM storage media or the like. Forexample, the holographic master data mask may be used to holographicallyrecord an entire information layer across a holographic storage medium.Each layer may be divided into multiple data pages of information to berecorded in parallel. Multiple layers may be multiplexed onto a mediumusing wavelength, angle, peristropic, confocal, polytopic, phase-code,or other multiplex techniques. In producing the holographic master datamask, data pages and stacks of data pages can be carefully aligned andrecorded in the holographic master data mask, and the alignmentmaintained by using the holographic master data mask to replicateholographic storage media. For example, rather than aligning successivedata masks, the various data masks to be recorded may be aligned andthen recorded into a holographic master data mask by wavelength or anglemultiplexing. The correct data mask may be recalled with the appropriatewavelength or angle when it is desired to be imaged and stored. Thismakes the interchange of data masks very quick and easy during thereplication process allowing for fast cycle times. On readout of themedia, the alignment of the pages and stacks of pages created by theholographic master data mask may be increased such that readout isimproved with minimal time for mechanical alignment and servo in thedrive between different pages of a stack. Additionally, carefulalignment of layers or between stacks of data page in a layer may beused to detect fake, unauthorized, or pirated storage media. Forexample, by intentionally varying the alignment or holding a particularalignment between page stacks or between layers in a predetermined way,a signature of a valid storage medium may be generated in the mediumitself.

FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary system for recording data masks intothe master holographic data mask. In this example, holographic masterdata mask 520 is placed near a quasi Fourier transform plane of datamask 500 to be stored therein. Further, the exemplary system may includea VanderLugt imaging setup to achieve the quasi Fourier transformplacement. A polytopic filter may also be included in the exemplarysystem.

A plane wave illuminates data mask 500, which may include an SLM,lithographic data mask, or other suitable object, and stores a hologramto a portion of holographic master data mask 520. In this instance, theplane wave passes through a lens 530, e.g., a converging lens. A planewave reference beam is also incident on the holographic master data mask520 and may be varied, e.g., wavelength or angle, to record multipledata masks in holographic master data mask 520. The system may include atransmission or reflection geometry. An aperture, angle filter, or phasemask may also be incorporated into the system of FIG. 5A.

Holographic master data mask 520 and/or the imaging system may be movedto spatially multiplex or polytopically multiplex multiple data pages510 across the media as shown in FIG. 5B. For example, the system mayalign one or more masks 500 at a first spatial position to record astack of data pages 510 in holographic master data mask 520 though oneor more multiplexing techniques. The system may then be repositioned torecord another stack of data pages 510 and so on to complete holographicmaster data mask 520. Stored data pages 510 may be imaged to aholographic medium with the same plane wave reference used to record.

Placing holographic master data mask 520 near a quasi Fourier transformplane of data mask 500 may reduce interference between pages in the samestack during recording and when data pages 510 are readout, for example,from holographic master data mask 520 and recorded with an HROM medium.This, in turn, may reduce interference between pages of the same stackduring readout of manufactured HROM media recorded using the holographicmaster data mask 520. More specifically, during readout from holographicmaster data mask 520, a Fourier filter may be advantageously disposed inthe Fourier transform plane of the holographic master data mask 520,close to a surface of an HROM medium or the like to filter out highorder transform components. For example, a 4-F system may be used toimage into a VanderLugt imaging system with a Fourier filter in theFourier transform plane of the 4-F system. A 4-F system generallyincludes two lenses that are separated by the sum of their focallengths, with two dimensional input and output planes located one focallength in front of the lens pair and one focal length behind the lenspair. Using a 4-F system the Fourier plane may also be placed inside themedia.

Another advantage of recording HROM media in or near the Fouriertransform plane includes increased locational tolerance of the HROMmedia and a detector during readout. The increased locational tolerancedue, at least in part, since the Fourier transform plane is generallyshift invariant. For example, it is possible for the Fourier transformplane to be out of position, e.g., by +/−100 microns, in any of x, y, z,and still recover an image aligned to a detector which has much smallerpixels, e.g., ˜10 microns. The shift invariance of the Fourier transformplane makes the tolerances greater for readout than conventionalsystems. In addition, because the information in the Fourier transformplane is uniformly distributed, media defects such as scratches and dustare not as severe a problem for data recovery as when in the imageplane.

In one example, the system as described with reference to FIGS. 5A and5B includes a phase mask in the object beam and uses phase conjugatereadout, where the phase mask may provide a degree of piracy protection.For a good quality reconstruction of the stored information, the phasemask is desirably the same or nearly the same phase mask as used whenrecording, and disposed at the same or nearly the same location in thesystem. Knowledge of the phase mask and phase mask location allows forprotection of the stored information. Further, such protection could bemade customer specific, e.g., by recording information for customer Xwith one phase mask (readable with a specific drive) and customer Y withanother phase mask (readable with a different drive). Customer X wouldnot be able to read customer Y's media without a customer Y drive (orknowledge of the particular phase mask and location used in recording).

In another aspect, an exemplary method for recording holographic masterdata masks includes using confocal multiplexing where each data mask isimaged to a different distance d from the center of the master storagemedium. For example, by varying the distance of data mask 500 shown inFIG. 5A or the image of data mask 500 relative to holographic masterdata mask 520 between recording different layers. Readout may beconfocally detected with a filter similar to methods performed withconfocal microscopes. Exemplary descriptions of confocal detection aredescribed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,202,875, 6,111,828, and 6,272,095, all ofwhich are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Confocalmultiplexing techniques may be advantageously combined with volumeholographic multiplexing techniques as described above. One potentialadvantage of holographically implementing multiple layers (image planes)is that the layers do not have to physically be on the storage medium.For example, with current multilevel CD, near-field, or high na systems,the layers are on or inside the media. By imaging or placing the datamask of the data, the layers can appear to a detector or drive as beinglocated outside of the storage medium, inside the medium, or on themedium depending on where the data mask image plane lies duringrecording. Thus, the usual problem of compensating for sphericalaberration due to the change in the amount of substrate that the lighttravels through may not be necessary and in some instances may bedetected without a pickup lens or lenses.

An adjustable lens system as shown in FIG. 3, and described above, forexample, may be used for recording to the holographic master data mask520 as shown in FIG. 5A. Further, the holographic master data mask 520may be readout by a suitable pickup lens that may translate to imagedifferent data pages or layers stored at various distances d.Alternatively, the image and detector planes may be moved to record atvarying distances. The holographic master data mask 520 may then be usedto holographically record multiple layers on HROM media using confocalmultiplexing. Similarly, a holographic storage medium, such as an HROMmedium, may be recorded and readout with adjustable lens systems atvarying distances from the medium.

Copying volume holograms from a holographic master, e.g., produced asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5A, is illustrated in FIGS. 14Aand 14B for reflection geometry and transmission geometry(respectively). Generally, a holographic master 1400 is placed adjacentto a target medium 1420 (e.g., an HROM device) for replication. Areference beam is directed to holographic master 1400 and target medium1420. The reference beam is sufficient to reconstruct stored hologramsin holographic master 1400 and simultaneously store the holograms intarget medium 1420. In particular, target medium 1420 is positionedrelative to holographic master 1400, such that light from both thediffracted holograms as well as the large reference beam used to readout holographic master 1400 interfere inside target medium 1420,resulting in the same set of holograms being recorded into target medium1420. There may be some positional offset due to displacement betweenholographic master 1400 and target medium 1420 during copying. Further,in the case of transmission geometry, as shown in FIG. 14B, thereference beam incident on target medium 1420 may be partially distortedor depleted by the hologram diffraction of holographic master 1400.

A plurality of holograms intended for target medium 1420 can becontained in a single master holographic medium, such as master medium1400. If the master holographic medium 1400 is recorded by a sequentialpage-recording process (e.g., as described above with respect to FIG.3), the holograms may have low diffraction efficiencies for a highcapacity storage device, e.g., below 1%. While relatively weak holograms(e.g., having low diffraction efficiencies) may be detectable in aholographic readout system, they are generally inefficient orundesirable for use in a mass replication process. Generally, optimumholographic recording occurs when the object beam and reference beamhave near equal intensities. For example, if the object beam intensityfrom the master holograms is less than 1% of that of the reference beam,the efficiency of the recording in the target medium will be poor,resulting in an inefficient use of the dynamic range of the medium, longreplication cycle times, weak holograms that may reduce the readouttransfer rate, and the like.

FIGS. 15A and 15B illustrate an exemplary method and system formanufacturing holographic media, including holographic master datamasks, which may provide for improved storage capacity and improvedhologram diffraction efficiency over previous methods. The exemplarymethod generally includes a two-step or two-process method formanufacturing a holographic master, wherein a set of holograms orinformation layers are recorded across a plurality of holographicsubmasters in a first process, and the set of holograms are recorded ortransferred from the holographic submasters to a holographic master in asecond process. The master may then be used to manufacture targetdevices such as HROM devices or the like to include some or all of theset of holograms.

With particular reference to FIG. 15A, a desired set of informationlayers are recorded sequentially to multiple holographic media orsubmasters 1520 a-c in a first process. For example, at least a firsthologram is recorded to a first holographic medium 1520 a, at least asecond hologram is recorded to a second holographic medium 1520 b, andso on. In particular, a light source 1510 provides an object beamdirected by beam splitter 1514 and mirror 1518 to a data mask 1500. Alens 1526 directs the object beam illuminate data mask 1500 and toconverge to a Fourier plane near the first submaster 1520 a. Variousoptical elements and relay systems (e.g., as described herein orotherwise), may be included between light source 1510 and the positionof submaster 1520 a.

Light source 1510 further directs a reference beam to submaster 1520 avia mirror 1512. A first portion of a set of holograms desired in afinal holographic master medium may be stored in the first submaster1520 a. The first portion of holograms may include a plurality ofholograms stored in submaster 1520 a through any suitable multiplexingprocesses. A second submaster 1520 b may then be suitable positioned torecord a second portion of a set of desired holograms, followed bysubmaster 1520 c and so on until all desired holograms are stored inholographic submasters.

The example shown in FIG. 15A is for a reflection geometry and recordingnear a Fourier plane, but the method can be generalized for eithertransmission or reflection geometry and a variety of recordingconfigurations and multiplexing methods as will be recognized by thoseof ordinary skill in the art. For example, the holograms may bemultiplexed with one or a combination of methods, such as spatial,polytopic, angle, or wavelength multiplexing methods.

The set of holograms stored in holographic submasters 1520 a-c may thenbe reproduced and recorded to a single holographic master 1520 (see FIG.15B) in a second process, which may be used as a holographic master datamask, e.g., to record some or all of the holograms in one or more targetdevices such as HROM devices or the like. A master holographic medium(in this example, holographic master 1520) manufactured in this mannermay be particularly suited for replicating many distribution copies(e.g., HROM devices or the like). For example, limiting the number ofholograms recorded to each submasters 1520 a-c may preserve strongerdiffraction efficiencies in each hologram stored in holographic master1520.

As illustrated in FIG. 15B, light source 1510 directs a reference beamvia mirror 1512 to illuminate both submaster 1520 a and master 1520. Theholograms stored in submsater 1520 a are reconstructed and interferewith the reference beam, thereby stored in master 1520. The systemillustrated in FIG. 15B for transferring holograms from submasters 1520a-c to master 1520 may be the same or different than that of FIG. 15A.

In one example, a plurality of holograms stored in submaster 1520 a aresimultaneously read-out by the reference beam, such that light from thediffracted holograms interferes with the reference beam insideholographic master 1520, resulting in a plurality of stored hologramsbeing transferred or copied to holographic master 1520 simultaneously.In one example, this is repeated for the necessary number of referencebeams (for example, with different angles or wavelengths) to transferall of the holograms from submaster 1520 a to master 1520.

Submaster 1520 b may then be appropriately positioned adjacent master1520 and a similar process as with submaster 1520 a repeated. It isnoted that some alignment processes may be necessary to ensureconsistency in the position between different submasters (e.g., 1520a-c) within a desired tolerance; however, alignment processes are onlyused in the process to produce the holographic master 1520. This isgenerally preferable to the alternative case where swapping andalignment is needed for multiple data masks or holographic mastersduring a replication process. Accordingly, with an exemplary holographicmaster medium as described, replication of additional devices can beproduced from a single master, where the proper alignment of theholograms has been previously set during the submaster 1520 a-c tomaster 1520 transfer.

Additionally, the exemplary methods allow more flexibility in thepositioning of the final master holographic medium and the replicated ortarget media relative to the object beam path. With single stepmastering, where all holograms are sequentially recorded in the master,efficient use of the media dynamic range is desired to achieve strongholograms for further replication. Therefore, it is generally optimal torecord the holographic master as close as possible to a Fourier plane ofthe object beam, where the overlap between adjacent spatial holograms isminimized. This means, however, that the replicated media must bedisposed elsewhere (i.e., away from the Fourier plane), because theholographic master and replicated media cannot share the same physicalspace during replication. For compact playback drive systems, forexample, it may be desirable to have the replicated media very close tothe Fourier plane of the diffracted hologram to filter the signal (suchas for polytopic multiplexing), while keeping beam paths as short aspossible.

Accordingly, in the first submastering process (shown generally in FIG.15A) of the present example, which is generally sensitive to overlap ofadjacent holograms due to the sequential recording of multipleholograms, submasters 1520 a-c can be recorded at the Fourier plane toincrease the efficient use of the media dynamic range. In the secondprocess (shown generally in FIG. 15B), the master 1520 can be flexiblypositioned such that the position does not coincide with the position ofsubmasters 1520 a-c or the desired position of the replicated media(e.g., the target). This provides increased freedom for the position ofthe final replicated media because each of the two mastering steps canbe performed with either forward or conjugate readout of the sourcemedia.

FIG. 16A-16C illustrates exemplary positioning of a holographicsubmaster 1520 a, holographic master 1520, and target medium 1620 in anexemplary mastering and replication processes. The exemplary methodincludes recording a hologram or information layer with submaster 1520 apositioned at the Fourier plane of the object beam as shown in FIG. 16A.The hologram is then transferred or copied from submaster 1520 a tomaster 1520 by a forward reference beam as shown in FIG. 16B.Replication of the hologram from master 1520 to target medium 1620 isshown in FIG. 16C, where target medium 1620 is positioned near theFourier plane of the diffracted hologram from master 1520, in a positionthat would generally not be possible with one step mastering due to thepositional overlap with submaster 1520 a.

Additionally, for the case of transmission geometry, each process of theexemplary method may be performed with the source (e.g., submaster 1520a in FIG. 16B and master 1520 in FIG. 16C) and the target medium (e.g.,master 1520 in FIG. 16B and target medium 1620 in FIG. 16C) positionedto ensure that a portion of the reference beam incident on the targetmedia is a portion of the reference beam that is undepleted by thehologram diffraction, as shown in FIG. 17. Such a system allows greatercontrol over relative intensities of the object beam and reference beamused to record the target media.

Alignment of the source media and target media in the various examplesdescried herein may be carried out with various methods known in theart. One exemplary method for aligning data pixels in a holographicrecording system is described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/069,007, filed Feb. 28, 2005 and entitled “Processing Data Pixelsin a Holographic Data Storage System,” which is incorporated byreference as if fully set forth herein. These and other alignmentprocesses are possible both during recording and during readout ofholograms.

The process of storing a set of holograms across multiple holographicsubmaster media and then reconstructing and storing the set of hologramsin a single holographic master may allow for stronger holograms (e.g.,greater diffraction efficiency) to be achieved in the master andreplicated media from the master. Two factors that generally affect thestrength (e.g., diffraction efficiency) of holograms in a storage mediuminclude the modulation depth with which the holograms were recordedwithin the medium and the number of overlapping hologram exposures in aunit of volume of the medium.

The modulation depth m of the index grating of a hologram can be writtenas,

$m = \frac{2\sqrt{I_{S}I_{R}}}{I_{S} + I_{R}}$

where I_(S) and I_(R) are the object (or signal) beam and reference beamintensities during recording. The modulation depth has a maximum valueof 1 when the intensities of the object bean and reference beam areequal. If the intensities are imbalanced, the modulation depthdecreases. For example if the intensity ratio is 100:1, the modulationdepth is about 0.2, meaning that only about 20% of the dynamic range ofthe media is effectively contributing to the hologram index modulation.The rest of the dynamic range is essentially wasted as if illuminatedwith a uniform beam of light. Accordingly, strong holograms with strongdiffraction efficiency in a holographic master are important forefficient replication, and in turn producing strong replicatedholograms.

Diffraction efficiency η is related to the dynamic range (M/#) of themedium and the number of hologram exposures M overlapped in the mediavolume. This can be written,

$\eta \approx \left( \frac{M/\#}{M} \right)^{2}$

If we consider a specific example of recording with a combination ofangle and polytopic multiplexing, as illustrated generally in FIG. 18,the number of overlapping exposures M can be further broken down intotwo components, the number of pages per book (or stack) N_(page), andthe spatial overlap factor N_(overlap) of neighboring books.

$\eta \approx \left( \frac{M/\#}{N_{page}N_{overlap}} \right)^{2}$

Accordingly, exemplary methods and systems using multiple submastermedia to record a holographic master medium may increase or maximize thediffraction efficiency in a number of ways. With reference to FIGS. 15Aand 15B, in the first process of recording multiple submasters 1520 a-c,each submaster 1520 a-c may include a fraction of the total number ofpages of each book (or stack), but all of the book locations. Forexample, 30 pages could be divided into 3 submasters 1520 a-c with 10pages each. This effectively multiplies the available dynamic range,M/#, by the number of submasters utilized. Additionally, becausesubmasters 1520 a-c can be recorded at the Fourier plane, where theobject beam size is smallest, the spatial overlap, N_(overlap), can beminimized or reduced. For high NA systems, even recording at a smalloffset from the Fourier plane can raise the overlap factor dramatically.

In the second process (e.g., transferring holograms to the mastermedium), a broad planewave reference beam with a certain incidence anglemay be used to transfer all hologram pages with that reference anglefrom all books in the particular submaster 1520 a-c to master 1520simultaneously. Only one holographic master 1520 is used, so there is nomultiplier for the dynamic range M/#. However, the spatial overlap,N_(overlap), effectively becomes 1, because spatially neighboring(polytopic multiplexed) pages are not exposed separately in this step.All spatial holograms with the same reference angle are recorded inparallel to the master 1520, effectively as one hologram.

The desirability of the exemplary methods may be illustrated byconsidering a polytopic-multiplexed holographic system using a 1.5 mmthick recording medium with a dynamic range (M/#) of 45, which istypical for the current state of the art holographic recording medium.Using a lens of reasonably high NA, e.g., around 0.50, to Fouriertransform the object beam, and spacing adjacent hologram stacks by aNyquist area factor of 1.2 (or 1.08 linear factor), the overlap factorN_(overlap) may be about 20, even when recording exactly at the Fourierplane of the object beam. Recording with the medium even 4-5 mm offsetfrom the Fourier plane, N_(overlap) quickly increases to 100 or more dueto the fast divergence of the high NA transform. If each hologram stackcontains N_(page)=40 holograms (such as by angle or wavelengthmultiplexing), we can estimate the hologram diffraction efficiencies bythe above equation to be about 0.3% when recorded exactly at the Fourierplane, and only about 0.01% when recorded a few millimeters off theFourier plane. If, in addition to recording at the Fourier plane, thehologram is further divided into pages of 5 submasters as describedherein (effectively raising the available M/# to 5×45=225), thediffraction efficiencies can be raised up to about 8%.

With the 2-step mastering method described herein, the holograms storedin these multiple submasters are the reconstructed and recorded to asingle holographic master. Achieving approximately 8% diffractionefficiency from the submasters, the modulation depth for recording inthe master is about 0.5, such that the effective M/# available in themaster is half the original value of 45. The overlap factor can beignored when copying the polytopically multiplexed pages in parallel tothe master such that 40 pages can be recorded to the master with anincreased diffraction efficiency of over 30%. This higher diffractionefficiency allows even higher modulation depth for the replicationprocess, such that the diffraction efficiencies could be amplified yetagain to the final replicated copies, theoretically even close to 100%.

In contrast, a master produced without the use of holographic submastersas described, e.g., using a single holographic medium and recording theholograms page by page, the diffraction efficiencies of the holograms inthe master will be well under 1% at reasonably high data storagedensities (e.g., 0.3% in the above example, even when recording at theFourier plane). At 0.3%, the modulation depth for replicating from sucha master will be about 0.1, meaning that only 10% of the M/# of themaster media is effectively available. For 40 pages, the diffractionefficiencies of the final replicated holograms will then be limited tounder 2% diffraction efficiency.

The diffraction efficiency of the final replicated media is importantfor enabling fast data transfer rates in the playback drive, especiallyin low-power consumer devices where the available readout laser powermay be limited. Media produced by the method of this invention may haveincreased hologram diffraction by over an order of magnitude inintensity, with a corresponding reduction in the required integrationtime of the detector, and hence increase in achievable transfer rate.Accordingly, in one example, the average diffraction efficiency of a setof holograms recorded in a master (or the target media) is greater than5%, where the areal storage density of the holographic recordingmaterial is greater than 10 bits/um². In another example, the averagediffraction efficiency of the set of holograms is higher than (M/N)²,where M is the dynamic range (M/#) of the storage medium without theplurality of holograms (e.g., the blank medium prior to recording) and Nis the average number of overlapping holograms recorded the storagemedium.

Accordingly, recording a desired set of holograms to more than one pieceof holographic media, e.g., multiple submasters, in a first process mayallow stronger holograms (e.g., greater diffraction efficiencies) to berecorded in each individual submaster than if they were all recordedsequentially into a single medium. The stronger holograms generallyallows more optimal beam intensity ratio between the object andreference beams for transferring the holograms from the multiplesubmasters to a master, and more efficient use of the dynamic range ofthe master. Also, because the second process transfers many holograms inparallel from the submaster to the master, the effective number ofhologram recordings is reduced. The combination of these benefits mayallow hologram strengths to be amplified from the submasters to theholographic master.

With reference now to FIG. 6, an exemplary system and method forrecording with a holographic master data mask 520 (which may bemanufactured as described with reference to FIG. 5 or as described withreference to FIGS. 15A and 15B) to store data in holographic storagemedium 620, e.g., HROM storage media. The holographic master data mask520 may be illuminated with a plane wave beam and multiplexed dependingon how the data masks where stored therein, e.g., wavelengthmultiplexed, to image various data masks onto holographic storage medium620. The holographic master data mask 520 is thus the data source thatis recorded in the replicated holographic storage medium 620. The planewave, encoded by a data mask of holographic master data mask 520, may beimaged, relayed, or propagated to holographic storage medium 620 by lens630. Lens 630 may include a high performance photolithographic lens.Alternatively, the holographic master data mask 520 may be placed inproximity to the storage medium 620 and recorded without a lens (naturalbeam propagation). Holographic storage medium 620 is further illuminatedwith a plane wave reference beam to interfere with the encoded beam andstore the data from holographic master data mask 520. It should berecognized that various other systems and configurations are possibleand contemplated to record with holographic master data mask 520.

An advantage of a Fourier transform plane in recording the holographicmaster data mask 520 includes that large pixels can be used and a smallhologram may be recorded in the holographic master data mask 520 andthen copied into the replicated holographic media 620. Additionally, anadvantage of a VanderLugt imaging system is that it can form an imageoutside the storage medium 620 and with the information layer in thequasi Fourier plane (small) that may be readout with a phase conjugatereference beam or with a standard reference beam. The present VanderLugtsystem is illustrative only and any system that results in a FourierTransform or quasi Fourier Transform plane will include similaradvantages. A VanderLugt system is desirable in part because if a phaseconjugate beam is used for readout, lenses are not required in a drive.

FIG. 7 illustrates a phase conjugate readout of holographic storagemedium 620 created with the exemplary system of FIG. 6, e.g., includinga VanderLugt imaging system. A detector 250 may be placed opposingholographic storage medium 620. In this example, a Holographic OpticalElement (HOE) grating 780 is placed adjacent detector 250. The referencebeam illuminates HOE grating 780 from the side and is directed from HOEgrating 780 to the storage medium 620 thereby providing the phaseconjugate beam 790. A phase conjugate image 792 is reflected back todetector 250 from storage medium 620 for readout. Use of HOE grating 780or other similar grating to introduce the readout reference beam intothe optical path allows for readout in a relatively compact system.

In other examples, standard beamsplitters, polarizing beamsplitters,waveplates, gratings, and the like at various angles may also be used tointroduce the reference beam into the system as will be recognized bythose of ordinary skill in the art.

Another exemplary method for recording holographic storage media thatmay be readout without the use of a lens includes storing multiple imageplanes or layers at a distance from the holographic storage mediumlocated outside of the storage medium as described above with referenceto FIG. 3. A detector may be advantageously placed at the distance theimage was stored and detect a portion or the entire stored image, e.g.,an entire data page or more in parallel. In one example, each storagelayer of a holographic storage medium is imaged to the same distance ‘d’from the data mask as shown in FIG. 3. In an example where theholographic storage medium includes a holographic master data mask, eachlevel of a holographic storage medium recorded with the holographicmaster data mask, e.g., an HROM, may be recorded such that theholographic master data mask is imaged to the same distance d from theHROM.

The exemplary method does not require a lens during readout of theholographic image from the storage medium. Specifically, a detector maybe placed at distance d from the holographic storage medium, and animage may be readout directly to the detector without the need for alens. A further advantage includes that an entire page of data can bereadout to a detector in parallel. By imaging off the media on or beforethe image plane, the normal holographic reconstruction is then naturallyimaged without the need for a lens. For example, if an image plane ofthe system is before the media and no lenses are disposed there between,a phase conjugate wave may be used to generate an image without a lensat that image plane for readout. If the drive has a detector at thatimage plane the pages in that stack can then be detected and theinformation in that stack of pages readout. Other stacks are addressedby moving the camera relative to the media to the other stacks that wererecorded on to the media during replication. In other examples, the useof a phase conjugate wave may be used for readout with a lens or opticalimaging elements.

Another exemplary recording method for holographic storage media such asHROM media or holographic master data masks includes polytopicmultiplexing. Polytopic multiplexing, described in the above referencedU.S. Patent Application 60/453,529, which is incorporated by referenceherein, is an exemplary method to increase the layer density by makingthe individual data page stacks smaller spatially. Polytopicmultiplexing may be used in conjunction with wavelength, angle, fractal,or other holographic multiplexing techniques. Polytopic multiplexingmethods allow holograms to be spatially multiplexed onto a holographicmaterial with partial spatial overlap between neighboring hologramsand/or stacks of holograms. Each individual stack of data pages mayadditionally take advantage of an alternate multiplexing scheme such asangle, wavelength, phase code, peristrophic, or fractal multiplexing.Generally, the holograms are separated by an amount equal to the beamwaist of the data beam writing the hologram. Unlike more traditionalapproaches, however, the beam waist is intentionally placed outside ofthe holographic media such that there is significant beam overlapbetween stacks inside the media. Upon reconstruction, the data pages andits neighboring data pages will all be readout simultaneously, however,an aperture (filter) placed at the beam waist of the reconstructed datafilters out the neighbors that are readout such that only the desireddata is detected. Polytopic multiplexing may be implemented with thebeam waist inside of the media with the aperture(s) placed at anotherFourier plane or by using an angle filter that filters out theneighboring data page reconstructions.

The holograms can be multiplexed by combinations of the standardmultiplexing techniques as well as by polytopic multiplexing.Significant increases in storage density may be achieved particularlyfor thick media and high numerical aperture optical systems where spotsizes are relatively small. Previous techniques were limited in theirability to spatially separate stacks of holograms due to significantamounts of beam divergence. High numerical aperture optics, despite thesmall beam waist, expand very quickly. The spatial separation of stacksin the prior art was generally limited by the size of the beam in themedia after expansion and not limited by the spot size. Up to thispoint, there has generally been a tradeoff between media thickness (andtherefore dynamic range) and the lens numerical aperture. Therefore,there is saturation in achievable capacity that can be obtained for anyholographic storage system using the approaches given by the prior art.The polytopic methods described here allow a system to fully utilizehigh numerical aperture lenses and independently choose the mediathickness and therefore gain in both bit density and media dynamicrange.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary readout system using a phase conjugatereference beam that may filter or block unwanted reconstructions. Asshown in FIG. 8, a block 820 at the beam waist 802 will block out theunwanted reconstructions as reference beam 806 is incident onholographic storage medium 800. FIG. 8 shows a Fourier transformarrangement, including a detector 830, Fourier transform lenses 832,834, a beam splitter 836, and SLM 838. It should be recognized, however,that this system could be used with an imaging system as well.

In this example the full multiplexing (angle, wavelength, etc) of thestack can be used and the stacks can be placed a minimal distance fromeach other that is not determined by the thickness of the medium 800.This allows for increased use of thick films (>100 microns) and isparticularly useful for films greater than 400 microns to manymillimeters.

In addition, the stacks do not have to be recorded fully at one time.For material reasons it may be desirable to partially fill theneighboring stacks and then come back and completely fill a stack as theneighborhood of the stack is recorded. See, e.g., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/588,908, “Process for Holography InvolvingSkip-Sorted Hologram Storage,” which is hereby incorporated by referenceas if fully set forth herein.

The exemplary method may also be used with high numerical aperturelenses or holographic optical elements that function as lenses. Theholograms can be recorded in a reflection or transmission holographygeometry process. It should be further recognized by those of ordinaryskill in the art that the exemplary system and polytopic methods may beemployed without a phase conjugate reference beam.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate another exemplary recording and readingmethod. In this example, polytopic multiplexing is used with phaseconjugate readout beam to enhance high order filtering, where the dataencoded signal beam is focused in front of the medium 900 as opposed tobehind the medium 900 as previously discussed. The focus location iswhere the beam block 920 is now placed. This has the additional benefitof blocking unwanted higher orders diffracting from a SLM or data mask.The beam then propagates into the media and is holographically recordedwith the reference beam as shown in FIG. 9A. Multiplexed holograms maythen be recorded at one location by a Bragg multiplexing method (angle,wavelength, etc). Media 900 is moved by an amount given by the dimensionof the beam waist and then another stack may be recorded. Upon readout,the phase conjugate readout is used as the input reference beam and thisreconstructs a backwards-propagating signal beam that retraces the pathof the original recording to detector 950. The block 920 separates outthe unwanted reconstructions from the desired signal beam.

The exemplary methods may be implemented with Fourier plane or imageplane filtering at or near the planes. It may also be implemented with asingle lens, two or more lens, or with a VanderLugt imaging system thathas no lens when reading out. This may also be relayed with a quasiFourier plane filter in the relay and the Fourier plane of the hologramplane near or in the storage media.

A detector for detecting a stored image without a lens, e.g., similar tothat described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5A, 7, 9A, and 9B, isgenerally matched for certain imaging specifications associated with thestored image, which may be determined by the SLM used to modulate theobject beam and store the image. For example, the pixel size and pitchof the SLM or data mask are matched to a sensor array of the detectorfor a pixel-matched readout. Alternatively, the pixel size and pitch maycorrespond to a desired ratio for an over-sampled readout. Typically,CMOS detector technology can currently provide arrays with pixel pitchon the order of 6 μm, whereas SLM devices typically have pixel pitchesof 10 μm or higher, such that finding an exact match of SLM and cameradevices is not always possible or cost effective. Accordingly, in someapplications it may be desirable to magnify an object image to an outputimage size to be stored with a suitable holographic medium; for example,to match a desired read out size for a desired detector characteristic,sampling characteristic, or the like.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary holographic recording system thatincludes a relay system 1030 for relaying an input object (e.g., a datamask or other means for modulating an object beam) to a magnified ordemagnified output image. In this particular example, relay system 1030is included in the object beam path to reduce the size of the objectimage, e.g., a data mask 1000, to a desired magnified image size forstorage in holographic medium 1020. The hologram may thereafter bereconstructed and readout at the magnified size. Further, the outputimage of relay system 1030 may converge to a Fourier plane, where theoutput image may be real or virtual, and may be on either side of theoutput Fourier plane. The exemplary system including relay system 1030may further facilitate an intermediate Fourier plane disposed prior tothe output Fourier plane where a filter or aperture may be placed, forexample.

Generally, an object beam is propagated from light source 1010 (e.g., acoherent light source) and directed via beamsplitter 1014 and mirror1018 to lens 1026. Lens 1026 directs the object beam to data mask 1000to encode the object beam with an information layer, which may includeone or more pages of data as described herein. Additionally, lens 1026directs the object beam to an intermediate Fourier plane positionedprior to relay system 1030 and the output Fourier plane, where filter1002 may be placed (as discussed in greater detail below).

Relay system 1030 is configured in this example, to negatively magnifythe modulated objected beam to a smaller output magnified image. Variousmagnifications or demagnifications are possible and contemplated. Forexample, the magnification of the object image may be between 0.1 and10.0. Additionally, in some examples, relay system 1030 may be operableto relay the object beam without magnification (e.g., a magnification of1.0). Such a system may benefit from the position and configuration ofthe intermediate and/or output Fourier planes (e.g., with the use of aphase mask and/or filter).

The output image of relay system 1030 is directed to converge at anoutput Fourier plane located near or within holographic storage medium1020. The output image interferes with a reference beam at storagemedium 1020, thereby storing the output image within storage medium1020. In this example, the reference beam is directed from common lightsource 1010 and directed via beamsplitter 1014 and mirror 1019 tostorage medium 1020. It is noted that FIG. 10 is drawn for the specificcase of transmission geometry, but the examples described are equallyapplicable for both transmission and reflection geometry holographicrecording systems as will be recognized by those of ordinary skill inthe art.

In one example, a filter 1002 (e.g., for polytopic multiplexing or thelike) may be placed at the intermediate Fourier plane to filter theobject beam, thereby allowing the output Fourier plane to be locatedinside or very close to storage medium 1020. Typically, holograms cannotbe recorded at or very close to the Fourier plane of the image if afilter (e.g., for polytopic multiplexing) is used near the Fourierplane. See, for example, the system described with reference to FIG. 9A.Recording away from the minimum waist of the object beam, however,results in relatively larger holograms, which lowers storage density orincreases overlap between neighboring holograms leading to lessefficient use of the dynamic range of the media. Thus, placing filter1002 at the intermediate Fourier plane allows more freedom in theplacement of the output Fourier plane with respected to storage medium1020.

In one example, filter 1002 includes an aperture placed at theintermediate Fourier plane. The aperture includes at least one dimension(e.g., diameter, width, height, etc.) having a size between 0.5 to 4.0times the Nyquist aperture size for polytopic multiplexing (e.g., wherethe Nyquist aperture size is the smallest aperture dimension satisfyingNyquist's sampling condition such that the spatial frequency sampling onthe data mask 1000 is twice the maximum spatial frequency allowed topass the aperture dimension). Those of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that various other filters and/or aperture dimensions may beplaced at or near the intermediate Fourier plane for various otherapplications and design considerations.

In one example, the illumination of data mask 1000 in the system of FIG.10 may have a lower Numerical Aperture (NA) than the desired output NAof relay system 1030. This feature may be desirable, for example, insystems employing SLMs that are designed for a specific illuminationangle, and may have deleterious effects (such as lower contrast) ifilluminated at angles which vary from an expected angle. In one example,the output NA of the relay system is greater than 0.2, and the NA ofdata mask 1000 or data mask is less than 0.2. Further, in one example,the output image has less than 0.5 waves of aberration and 1%distortion.

In contrast, conventional imaging systems such as a Z1-Z2, 4-F, andVanderlugt imaging systems (shown generally in FIGS. 11A-11Crespectively) do not generally perform well at high NA over a largefield of view, and are generally not optimized for preserving the phaseof the image, such as the converging shape of the beam after the image,while at the same time maintaining low aberrations at both the outputimage and Fourier planes. For example, imaging systems are typicallydesigned with the primary intent of duplicating the intensity of theimage, without strict concern for its phase.

With reference again to FIG. 10, the exemplary recording systemincluding relay system 1030 may further allow for insertion of areference beam in close proximity to the output image (e.g., relative toa recording system without relay system 1030). The addition of relaysystem 1030 allows the physical data mask 1000 to be moved away from thestorage medium 1020, which may allow additional space in the vicinity ofthe magnified image. For example, a phase mask (not shown) may bedisposed in the object path, if desired, and located precisely at theoutput image plane, thereby more evenly distributing the energy atstorage medium 1020 with minimum degradation to image quality. In otherexamples, a phase mask may be located at data mask 1000.

It is noted that the addition of the relay system 1030 to the recordingsystem does not add complexity to the readout methods and systems. Forexample, a readout system does not require relay system 1030 forreconstructing holograms stored with storage medium 1020, and may beachieved as described herein with various optical system, without a lens(e.g., a conjugate readout), or the like.

The optical relay system shown in FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary relaysystem that creates a magnified (in this example, demagnified) realimage of the object prior to the output Fourier plane. In otherexamples, the output image may be real or virtual, and may be located oneither side of the output Fourier plane. FIGS. 12A-12C illustrateexemplary relay systems 1230 a-c for use with a holographic recordingsystem to magnify an object image, such as the holographic recordingsystem described with reference to FIG. 10. In particular, FIG. 12Aillustrates an exemplary relay system 1230 a that creates a magnifiedreal image 1201 a of the object 1200 a prior the output Fourier plane.FIG. 12B illustrates an exemplary relay system 1230 b that creates amagnified virtual image 1201 b of the object 1200 b prior the outputFourier plane. FIG. 12C illustrates an exemplary relay system 1230 cthat creates a magnified real image 1201 c of the object 1200 c afterthe output Fourier plane.

Relay systems for achieving a magnified image and output Fourier planemay be achieved by numerous constructions of optical elements, includingfor example, a combination of one or more lenses, prisms, and othersuitable optical elements. FIG. 13 illustrate one exemplary lens designsimulation for a relay system with a high output NA of 0.5 andmagnification of −0.5 times (i.e., demagnification of the object imageby 50 percent), while achieving imaging performance of 0.02 waves oferror (peak to valley) and 0.02% distortion. The input NA is 0.25, halfthat of the output NA, and the design allows for access to anintermediate Fourier plane in front of the relay system, for insertionof an aperture such as for polytopic multiplexing or the like. Those ofordinary skill in the art will recognize that a relay system asdescribed herein may be achieved in a numerous manners, includingvarious combinations of optical elements, to achieve the desiredfunctions.

Additionally, holographic recording systems and methods, including arelay system as described herein, may further carry out holographicrecording via one or more of polytopic multiplexing, angle multiplexing,wavelength multiplexing, shift multiplexing, correlation multiplexing,confocal multiplexing, or peristrophically multiplexing holograms.

The above detailed description is provided to illustrate exemplaryembodiments and is not intended to be limiting. It will be apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modification andvariations within the scope of the present invention are possible. Forexample, various methods of recording in holographic media and readingfrom holographic media may be used in holographic storage systems inisolation or in combination with other methods. Additionally, theapparatus and methods described herein should not be limited to anyparticular holographic storage system, for example, the methods andsystems are generally applicable with various system configurations andmultiplexing methods. Accordingly, the present invention is defined bythe appended claims and should not be limited by the description herein.

1. A method for recording holographic storage media, comprising:illuminating an object to produce a modulated object beam; relaying themodulated object beam with a relay system to provide an output modulatedobject beam comprising an output image of the modulated object beam andan output Fourier transform pattern of the modulated object beam;directing the output modulated object beam to a holographic storagemedium; propagating a reference beam to the holographic storage mediumto record a resulting interference pattern between the output modulatedobject beam and the reference beam in the holographic storage medium,wherein the reference beam comprises a plane wave; forming anintermediate Fourier plane prior to the output Fourier transform patternof the modulated object beam; disposing an aperture at the intermediateFourier plane location; and recording holograms via polytopicmultiplexing by translating the holographic storage medium with respectto the reference beam and output modulated object beam betweenholograms, wherein a beam waist of the output modulated object beam ispositioned outside of the holographic storage medium when recording eachof the holograms, wherein at least two of the holograms substantiallyspatially overlap within the holographic storage medium and whereinthere is substantially no overlap in respective output modulated objectbeam waists used to record the at least two holograms.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the output image is magnified relative to the object.3. The method of claim 2, wherein the output image is magnified between0.1 and 10.0.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the object beamilluminates the object with a converging beam.
 5. The system of claim 1,wherein at least one dimension of the aperture is between 0.5 to 4.0times the Nyquist aperture size for polytopic multiplexing.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the object includes an SLM or a data mask. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein the output image is formed before theoutput Fourier transform pattern of the modulated object beam andincludes a real or virtual image.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein theoutput image is a real image formed after the output Fourier transformpattern of the modulated object beam.
 9. The method of claim 1, furtherincluding a phase mask disposed at the location of the object.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, further including a phase mask disposed at thelocation of the output image.